A Visit to Radio Nepal

As a part of our field study, our class was taken on a tour to Radio Nepal which is located inside the Singha Durbar. Since it was my first visit to a radio station, I was excited beyond words and filled with new found energy. But the long wait outside the premises drained all my energy. Finally, after about an hour we were granted the permission to enter. It was not an easy task to locate Radio Nepal inside the spacious Singha Durbar. After wandering here and there for quite some time, at last we somehow reached our destination.

Radio Nepal was established on 1st April 1951. Initially, the transmission covered duration of 4 hours and 30 minutes through a 250 Watt SW transmitter. Over the years, Radio Nepal has strengthened its institutional capacity considerably and diversified itself in terms of programme format, technical efficiency and coverage. Radio Nepal airs programmes on Short Wave, Medium Wave and FM frequencies. FM Kathmandu, the first FM-Channel covering Kathmandu valley and adjoining areas was started in 1995 from its premises at Singh Durbar, Kathmandu. The short Wave transmission of Radio Nepal is estimated to reach listeners throughout the kingdom. Medium Wave transmission covers 70% to 80% of the population.

The Broadcasting Headquarters at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu has two broadcasting houses consisting of one drama studio, two music studios, one reporting studio, three continuity studios, one news studio and seven programme production studios. We visited the music studio first which was equipped with a 24 track recording facility. The most interesting feature of this studio was a Vibrophone, a unique musical instrument found only in Radio Nepal. This studio as told to us is open for hiring purposes for anyone desirous of recording music digitally. The attractive part: Studio charges here are relatively reasonable compared to other private studios. Foreign broadcasting Stations also make use of Radio Nepal’s Studio facilities and transmitters for live and other broadcasts on a rental basis which clears any doubt about inefficiency of its facilities.

Our next stop was one of the programme production studios. It felt great to see the working mechanism of a radio station in practical. After the production studio, we were taken to the recording studio. All of us were so enthralled by the fancy gadgets and couldn’t help but give it a shot. Putting on the head sets and recording our voice we did feel like a pros. But, while some failed miserably others proved that their knack for the work. We also got to see a Radio Jockey busy at work interacting with his callers. Meera Rana, the veteran Nepali singer added some glamour to our trip. Currently, she looks after the tape department of the station. The music library at Radio Nepal can boast of a collection of about 40,000 songs.

In the age where everything is headed towards technology, Radio Nepal is also making some modest effort to cope with the technological advancement. It uses the latest development in computer and digital radio. Also, it has initiated the task of digitizing old songs and mastering on digital format due to its large storage capacity, high fidelity and low cost. The old songs of yester years are getting a new life in the form of CDs.

The complex also has one open air live theatre facility for functions and musical performances. Like other transmitting stations, the Head quarters also has a 100 KVA stand by diesel generator to cope with occasional power failure.

All in all , the visit to Radio Nepal was informative, enthralling and fun at the same time.

Situation of Development Journalism in Nepal

The term “development journalism” is used to refer to two different types of journalism. The first is a new school of journalism which began to appear in the 1960s. The idea behind this type of development journalism is similar to investigative reporting, but it focuses on conditions in developing nations and ways to improve them. It attempts to document the conditions within a country so that the larger world can understand them. Journalists are encouraged to travel to remote areas, interact with the citizens of the country, and report back. This type of development journalism also looks at proposed government projects to improve conditions in the country, and analyzes whether or not they will be effective.

The second type of development journalism involves heavy influence from the government of the nation involved. While this type of development journalism can be a powerful tool for local education and empowerment, it can also be a means of suppressing information and restricting journalists. This type of journalism can walk a thin line. On the one hand, government participation in mass media can help get important information spread throughout the nation. Governments can help to educate their citizens and enlist cooperation on major development projects. However, a government can also use the idea of “development” to restrict freedom of speech, for journalists. Journalists are told not to report on certain issues because it will impact the “development” of the nation in question, and therefore citizens are not actually being given access to the whole picture.

Development these days is understood only in the terms of construction and infrastructure. There are 2 perspectives through which we can understand development. One is through Infrastructure Agenda which means economic development. It refers to advancement in physical structures such as roads, schools, health, and education sector. The second perspective is Individual Independence which means human development. It is related to human rights.

As a tool for social development, development journalism can be very valuable especially for a developing country like Nepal. It is important to communicate in development in order to understand the problem and also to draw the solution. However, the case of Nepal is far from perfect. The state of communication sector is still humble which prevents social advancement. Media plays an important role in accelerating the pace of development process.But, mainstream media do not give coverage to developmental issue. Media is dominated by politics and hence, developmental news fails to stand out. Glamour factor is still absent in the reporting of developmental issues. Although such issues are covered by few newspapers and magazines, the quality of reporting is weak which fails to attract readers' interest.

Media in Nepal are killing the essence of development journalism. Rather than critically analyzing the issues, they merely report on what is happening. Instead of studying the issue, they just present it as it is. For e.g. Most of the newspapers will write about what the Prime Minister said in a speech rather than why did he/she say it or whether the things said is accurate or not. Merely, reporting issues related to poverty, corruption, hunger and illiteracy is not only depressing but a repetition. Journalists committed to development should look at the situation beyond just reporting it. Lack of professionalism can be the cause for ineffective reporting. People still view journalism as a hobby rather than profession. In Nepal, there are no standard requirements to become a journalist and neither there is availability of specialization courses in the discipline of journalism. Among the universities in Nepal, only Purbanchal University offers a Master’s Degree in Journalism. Global issues are present in abundance but what is lacking is the critical analysis of such issues.

Moreover, developmental issues are not of concern to the investors because they do not care about the service motive of journalism. To earn money is what matters to them and therefore, they cover only those issues which sell. This is the reason why we never see a news story based on developmental issue on the first page of a newspaper. Media in Nepal is not yet developed as an industry. Legally and technically it is an industry but the distribution system is still weak. Pre-planning is not done resulting in unmanaged media. Also, most of the investors do not have much idea about media management and therefore they focus only on the commercial aspect of it. Furthermore, there are no restrictions in investment proportion. However, it is seen that the journalistic and editorial approach towards development journalism is improving. In Nepal's context the performance of state owned media is comparatively better than other media in coverage of developmental issues.

Development reporting in Nepal has become more of donor based. The reporters are willing to go anywhere to cover any issue when the donor wants. For e.g. If UNICEF is organizing a programme in Dang and they want media coverage, they will take with them few media personnel and pay for their trip. Reporters will cover the event but there will be no follow up because the donor’s interest doesn’t lie in the follow up story. Donors have limited interest. They use the media till the interest is served.

At present, there has been a meager improvement in the field of development journalism. Developmental issues are reported but their presentation style needs to be changed. Neutral advocacy is still absent in reporting issues due to lack of study. Many of the journalists are not professionally committed due to the lack of professional security. Hence, it becomes the role of government to create an environment in which the people from the media and citizen sector can do their work freely without the fear of repercussion. Lastly, development journalism needs to adopt an action-oriented approach which will help bring about a change in the society.